BBC Songs of Praise may go multi-faith, says Sikh exec

The BBC’s Songs of Praise may “explore” other faiths in the future, according to a Sikh executive at the Corporation.

Tommy Nagra, an executive producer of Religion and Ethics at the BBC, said: “I think there’s no reason why we couldn’t explore other faiths”, according to The Daily Telegraph.

However, a BBC spokesman said there were “absolutely no plans to change the format”.

Prism

Mr Nagra acknowledged that Songs of Praise is “a Christian show” and added that items featuring other faiths “would always be done through the Christian prism”.

He made the controversial suggestion in an interview to mark Songs of Praise’s 50th anniversary.

Responding to the comments a BBC spokesman countered: “Christianity is the cornerstone of our religion and ethics programming. Songs of Praise is and will remain our flagship Christian worship strand”.

Islam

Mr Nagra was appointed to his postion at the BBC in 2008. In 2009 Muslim Aaqil Ahmed was appointed as head of religious broadcasting at the Corportation.